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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Just a few months after Lakes Michigan and Huron dropped to record lows, a commission is recommending that the U.S. and Canada investigate using various structures as a way to help restore water levels.

The International Joint Commission, which advises the countries on issues involving trans-boundary waters, announced the proposal Friday.

It encourages both governments to explore options, such as placing inflatable gates or other devices in the St. Clair River, that would provide relief during low water periods, rather than a more permanent change that could also exacerbate high water levels in the future.

The goal would be to restore water levels in Lakes Michigan and Huron by 5-10 inches.

“The idea is that you would alleviate the most extreme levels,” said John Nevin, public affairs adviser for the Great Lakes Regional Office of the International Joint Commission. “The longer a low (lake) level takes place, the more damage takes place.”

Water supplies have been generally declining in the upper Great Lakes basin for the last 40 years. Lakes Michigan and Huron hit all-time record low levels in January, when the average was 576.02 feet above sea level.

Although considered two separate lakes, they are connected by a 5-mile-wide strait and are the same elevation above sea level.

Nevin said less precipitation and more evaporation due to less ice covering the lakes in the winter are largely to blame. The problem has been compounded by dredging that occurred decades ago in the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers, he said.

Low water levels can have wide-ranging economic and environmental impacts, affecting tourism, shipping, wildlife and other areas.

In its recommendations, the joint commission has suggested that the U.S. and Canadian governments begin studying the cost, benefits and environmental impacts related to structural restoration options.

In 2007, a 10-member panel of scientists and policy experts appointed by the joint commission began the International Upper Great Lakes Study. Its results were released last year. A series of public hearings followed. The study formed the basis of the International Joint Commission’s report to the U.S. and Canadian governments.

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In considering how to restore water levels in Lakes Huron and Michigan, the study board looked at sills, dikes, weirs, inflatable flap gates, inflatable weirs and hydrokinetic turbines. One possible flexible solution would be a steel flap gate installed in the channel between Stag Island and the Canadian mainland that could help slow the flow of water out of Lake Huron, Nevin said.

Lana Pollack, U.S. chair of the commission, chose not to sign the commission’s report.

She wrote that, in her opinion, it “places insufficient emphasis on climate change and the need for governments to pursue adaptive management strategies in the basin.”

She also cautioned against raising “false hopes that structures in the St. Clair River, if built, would be sufficient to resolve the suffering from low water levels of Lake Michigan-Huron, while at the same time causing possible disruption downstream in Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie.”

Great Lakes levels fluctuate seasonally and have risen and fallen significantly over the decades, but now are in a prolonged low-water period. Huron and Michigan have suffered the biggest drop-offs. When they set a record in January, they were 29 inches below their long-term average and had declined 17 inches within a year.

They have risen slightly since then, helped by heavy snowfall and rain. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it would take a number of unusually wet years to restore the lakes to normal.

Mary Muter, co-director of a group called Restore Our Water International, said the commission’s support for boosting levels was “excellent news.” In addition to placing artificial devices in the river, the governments should spread rock rubble along the bottom to prevent further erosion, she said.

“If we can bring the levels back up a bit and then let them fluctuate naturally, that’s been our goal from day one,” she said.

But another group that works to protect the Great Lakes, Georgian Bay Forever, said the proposal was “limited and ineffective.” The commission’s recommendation does not address the growing problem of climate change and its impact on the lakes, the group said.

Executive Director David Sweetnam also said it would not boost levels enough to help the shipping industry, which has lightened cargo loads to avoid running aground.

“Five inches of water is not enough to address what’s already been a 2- to 3-foot decline in water levels,” Sweetnam said.

Tim Prophit, a racing sailor and vice commodore of the Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit, spent part of the day Friday using an epoxy compound to fix gouges on his boat’s keel that were caused last year by rocks and gravel on the bottom of Lake St. Clair. With water levels down, he said, the area where he can’t sail is becoming larger.

“Boating is a big part of our culture, our recreation and our economy,” he said. “If many people can’t go boating because the water levels are down, it has a trickle-down, adverse effect.”